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Steven Curtis isn't the only musically talented Chapman in Middle Tennessee. Check out a new live video of local band Caleb -- which features Steven's sons Caleb (vocals/guitar) and Will Franklin (drums) -- performing "Trouble" above.

Click to see a gallery of Chapman family photos (this image of Mary Beth Chapman: Tucker Photography, Inc.).

Mary Beth Chapman walked down a long hallway into a room that held two tiny caskets, one white, one gray. She’d have to choose between the two as a final resting place for the body of her youngest daughter, Maria, 5.

On May 21, 2008, the little girl had been playing outside with her sisters, Shaohannah, 8, and Stevey Joy, also 5. Maria wanted to hang from the monkey bars on their playground, but wasn’t tall enough to reach them on her own. When she saw her big brother Will, then 17, steering down the driveway, she darted off to meet him and ask for his help. Will never saw her coming, and fatally struck his sister with the car.

A day later, standing in that funeral home, mother of six Mary Beth faced a decision she’d never dreamt of making, and collapsed on the floor, racked with sobs.

The Chapman family’s personal struggle in the wake of the tragedy was deep, and complex: the loss of a child, the feelings of devastated guilt gripping another. But because of who they are — Chapman’s husband is multi-platinum selling contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman — the early public interest in their personal heartbreak became another obstacle they had to overcome.

More than two years later, Mary Beth Chapman is still taking each day as it comes. But with her new book, Choosing To SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope, she hopes she can inspire and encourage others who’ve struggled with their own tragedies by sharing her story.

“I can say now that God is good when things are really, really bad,” Chapman said. “But I couldn’t say it when (Maria died) because he hadn’t showed me the journey. (I had to figure out what I could say) that would also encourage people, and maybe they could start seeing their own life in the book."Continue reading →

Contemporary Christian star Steven Curtis Chapman hangs out with a talented brood: Sons Caleb and Will Franklin play music together under the bandname Caleb, and wife/Mom Mary Beth Chapman is getting ready to release her first book, Choosing to See, in September.

Fans can get a good look at all four of those Chapmans' talents this fall, as their A Night with the Chapmans tour brings Dad, Mom and sons to stages in 34 different cities.

Steven Curtis will pick from his growing collection of Christian pop hits, while Caleb and Will Franklin -- who've played as part of Dad's backing band on several tours -- show off new band Caleb's material (Will Franklin plays drums, brother Caleb handling vocals and guitar). Mary Beth, meanwhile, follows up her run of speaking engagements at the Women Of Faith conferences by taking the stage to speak during A Night with the Chapmans.

"There are three things I told God I would never ever do: homeschool, adopt, and speak in public," said Mary Beth, who's adopted three girls with Steven, in a statement. "Well, we've already homeschooled, you know we've adopted, and now this fall I'll be on stage speaking at Steven's concerts. ... Now I'm telling God I will not go to Hawaii for three months."

We haven't seen a planned Nashville area tourdate, but the Chapmans' run will visit Chattanooga on September 23 and Knoxville on November 11.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical adaptation of Cinderella has long been a favorite of Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughters.

“They would always pick different parts, and take turns being Cinderella,” the Christian music star recalls. “Somebody had to be the stepsisters, and that was always a bad day when you had to be a stepsister.”

That made the rags-to-riches fairy tale a perfect choice when Chapman decided to stage a one-night-only musical production to raise funds and awareness for his family’s adoption and orphan care charity organization, Show Hope, as well as to honor the memory of his 5-year-old daughter Maria, who was killed in a tragic accident in May of 2008.

A cast of music and Broadway stars, including Bebe Winans and Jodi Benson as well as the Nashville Symphony, will share the stage to perform the musical on Friday, May 14 at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena. The show was originally scheduled for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, but the flooding of downtown Nashville prompted a last-minute venue change. The move came on the heels of several schedule conflicts and cancellations within the cast.

When rehearsals started last Saturday in Franklin, it was a big relief for Chapman, who at one point feared the flooding “might have been the last straw” for the show.

“Our Cinderella and prince were there, singing their duets. I was sitting back smiling from ear-to-ear, going, ‘It’s actually really happening!’”Continue reading →